Yamunanagar, July 26
Standing crops over an area of about 100 acres in about 12 villages near Bhagwangarh village in the district have been flooded following a breach in the Western Yamuna Canal due to a heavy downpour during the past two days.

According to sources, about a 100-foot breach near Bhagwangarh village damaged the standing crop in several villages, including Kashmirgarh, Tapri, Kharwan and other nearby areas, where vast stretches of agricultural land having paddy and sugarcane crops were covered under a sheet of water.

The situation turned grim as water from the adjoining state of Himachal Pradesh also caused problems.

Residents of the areas lamented that they informed the Irrigation Department about the breach but no official visited them. They alleged that several acres of land had been affected due to the breach and floodwater. According to the sources, the capacity of the Western Yamuna Canal is about 15,000 cusecs of water. The water is being discharged from Dadupur Headworks.

Raj Kumar, a resident of Kharwan village, said Bhagwangarh was inundated with water up to two feet while the inhabited areas were also waterlogged.

Deputy Commissioner Ashok Sangwan has directed heads of different zonal committees to take stock of preparedness to fight the flood. He also assured the villagers that the administration was fully geared to meet any eventuality. 

Jind/Rohtak, July 26
While the Sarva Jatiya Sarvakhap Mahapanchayat has demanded a ban on the screening of the controversial film “Khap” and has threatened to take direct action to stop its shows, some social organisations and individuals have asked the authorities to ensure the screening of the film in the cinema halls and theatres across the state.

Though protest by some of the khaps has already been reported from some parts of the state to stop the screening of the film as “it aims to defame the age-old khaps”, the opposition to the movie became more vocal with the meeting of the Sarva Jatiya Sarvakhap Mahapanchayat held in Jind here this morning, which saw the participation of the representatives of about 72 villages.

Chaired by Kuldeep Singh Dhanda, head of the Barah Kalan Khap, the meeting denounced the release of “Khap” as it claimed that this film, if screened, would send a wrong message about the name of the khap itself and the bodies engaged in finding an amicable solution to the social problems for hundreds of years.

It was alleged that the film had tried to depict khaps in a bad and unacceptable manner.

If the authorities concerned failed to ban or stop the screening of the film, the khaps could take action on their own, it was announced. The khaps would also appeal to the theatre owners not to screen the film in public interest, it was added.

On the other hand, a group of intellectuals based at Rohtak have taken a serious view of some khaps’ threat to obstruct the screening of the film. In a joint statement issued here today by academicians, social activists, intellectuals and artistes, they expressed concern over the ‘culture of intolerance’ being spawned by some zealots.

The signatories to a memorandum submitted to the district authorities include, among others, DR Chaudhry, a former Chairman, HPSC, Dr Jagmati Sangwan, former Director, Women Studies, MDU, and Dr RS Dahiya, Professor, BD Sharma Health University, Rohtak.

According to the memorandum, theatre owners here may not screen the film due to pressure from the khaps and have asked for ample security at the theatres that will screen the film based on the issue of honour killing. It was due for an all-India release on July 29. 

Chandigarh, July 26
With the mid-September deadline for submitting a report approaching fast, time is running out for the one-man Commission of Inquiry constituted to look into the arson and rioting in Mirchpur, which resulted in the death of two Dalits in April last year. The commission has already got two extensions since its constitution in June last year.

Having already examined 50-odd witnesses, the commission headed by Justice Iqbal Singh has now issued notices to those named by the witnesses for their alleged involvement in the arson, firing and violence thereafter.

Sources said 23 such notices have been issued by the commission. However, with these persons being under trial in the Mirchpur case and already behind bars, the commission apprehends it may delay winding up of the inquiry.

While counsel of 11 such persons have already appeared before the commission, the rest are expected to do so on August 5, the next date fixed for the purpose.

Meanwhile, Justice Iqbal Singh, who has visited Mirchpur a number of times, is slated to visit Hisar again on August 9 and 10 to record crucial statements of doctors who treated the injured and the police personnel who were posted in Mirchpur during that time.

Sources said some of the police personnel had been posted out, making it difficult to trace them. Finally, the commission had sought the help of the Police Department in locating them .

Efforts are afoot tomeet the mid-September deadline to submit the final report.

The commission, constituted on June 18, was initially given three months to probe the Mirchpur violence on April 21 last year when members of a dominant community went about torching houses of Dalits. Two members of the community, Tara Chand and his polio-stricken daughter, lost their lives in the incident.

Unable to submit a report within the designated time frame, the commission was subsequently given a six-month extension in September and a deadline to submit a detailed report on Mirchpur was set for March 16 this year.

This deadline, too, could not be met in view of the protests by Jat organisations early this year, making it difficult for the commission to record statements of witnesses in the case. Eventually, another six-month extension had to be given.

It now remains to be seen if the commission can wrap up the inquiry and submit its report this time. 

Karnal, July 26
The local police today booked Sukhdev Singh and Som Prakash of Kalsora village in Indri for murder, trespassing and other offences under Sections 302, 323, 452, 201, 506 and 34, IPC, in connection with the “mysterious” death of a village youth, Mukesh, whose body was found in the village pool on July 24.

Parents and relatives of the deceased alleged that Mukesh had been murdered and his body was dumped in the pool by his neighbours, who had earlier implicated him in an eve-teasing case under Sections 354, 451 and 506, IPC, on July 22.

Irate villagers blocked the Karnal-Yamunanagar road for a few hours on Sunday and did not allow the postmortem of the deceased till all those involved in the case were arrested.

The villagers also sought the intervention of Chief Minister Bhupinder Singh Hooda and the police registered a case against two the accused on the complaint of Om Prakash and thana in charge Ishwar Sharma was sent to Police Lines and replaced by sub- inspector Dharamvir.

Karnal SP Rakesh Arya visited the village to have first-hand information about the series of events and later shifted the thana in charge, who did not take immediate action on the complaint of Mukesh’s parents.

Om Prakash in his complaint alleged that on July 22, Sukhdev, Som Prakash and other accused barged into his house in broad daylight and misbehaved with his family members and when Mukesh resisted, they beat him up.

He said Mukesh immediately left the house and his body was found from the village pool on July 24, alleging that he had been murdered. 

Gurgaon, July 26
A local court has sentenced Neeti Aggarwal and three others to life imprisonment for the murder of Neeti’s husband, Aditya Aggarwal, who is said to be a descendant of a royal family of Pilibhit in Uttar Pradesh.

The other convicts in the case include a cook and a driver of the Aggarwal family. Aditya had been residing in Gurgaon and was murdered in 2007.

As per the police investigations, Neeti had an affair with their cook Nand Lal and they plotted to kill Aditya.

After killing him, Neeti and Nand Lal allegedly put the body in a suitcase and dumped it somewhere in Rajasthan. They were allegedly assisted by Aggarwals’ driver Radhey Shyam and one Zile Singh.

All four accused Neeti, Nand Lal, Radhey Shyam and Zile Singh appeared at the court of Additional Sessions Judge Vimal Kumar here today. The judge sentenced all of them to life imprisonment.

Talking to mediapersons on the court premises, Neeti and Nand Lal denied having any affair and alleged that they were being framed due to pressure from Aditya’s family. 

Sirsa, July 26
The BJP human rights cell has taken up the issue of supply of rotten wheat to the poor in Sirsa with the NHRC. The Tribune had published a news item “Confed supplies rotten wheat under PDS in Sirsa” today.

Taking cognisance of the news item, Avinash Rai Khanna, MP and all-India in charge of the BJP human rights cell, has written a letter to the NHRC chairperson drawing his attention towards The Tribune report.

Khanna has demanded suitable action in this regard, as this, he said, was a violation of human rights. The Tribune had reported as to how putrid wheat, apparently blackened due to remaining under floodwaters, was not only supplied to several ration depots in the district by Confed but had also been sent outside the state for PDS recently.

The matter came to light after a depot holder from Kheowali village and sarpanch of the village brought the rotten wheat before Leader of the Opposition Om Parkash Chautala during his press conference yesterday.

The INLD had alleged that rotten wheat of the Haryana State Warehousing Corporation that remained submerged under floodwaters for over a month last year had been mixed by some unscrupulous elements in Confed with fresh wheat for supply to the poor.

Chandigarh, July 26
The Haryana Forest Department will plant saplings in 1050 hectares of the catchment area of Sukhna Lake falling in Panchkula district to check silt coming to the lake.

An official spokesman said here today as the depth of the lake was decreasing day by day due to the silt coming from its catchment area, the government had decided to carry out plantation and undertake other soil-conservation works like construction of check dams, spurs and earthen dams to reduce the quantity of silt.

As many as five crore saplings would be planted this year of which 2.35 crore would be planted by the Forest Department and 2.65 crore saplings would be given free of cost to other departments, boards, corporations and people.

The forest cover in the state had increased to 6.8 per cent of the total geographical area.

Rohtak, July 26
An undertrial lodged in the district jail, in connection with a murder case, died here this morning. He was one of the 18 suspects who had been arrested and had been in judicial custody after the death of a youth in the firing incident that took place in Kalanaur in May.

A former INLD MLA from Meham, Balbir Singh, alias Bali Pehalwan, has also been one of the accused in the case and is currently lodged in the jail here.

The incident took place in barrack number three of the local jail complex here this morning when one of the undertrials identified as Somvir (23), son of Ram Mehar, a resident of Mokhra village, died inside the jail complex.

The jail officials described electrocution as the cause of the death as Somvir allegedly came into contact with a pedestal fan with a damaged electric cable, which resulted in his death on the spot.

But this version of the jail authorities has not gone down well with the kin of the deceased. They suspect that Somvir could have been a victim of “police torture” and this had been revealed by him a couple of days back when they came to see him, said sources close to the family. Some of the accused, including the former MLA, were produced in the court here yesterday, where their judicial custody was extended for another 14 days.

The SSP Satish Balan said that since it was a case of custodial death, the decision of any probe into it would be taken by the court as the case had been pending and the accused (victim) was in judicial custody. The body has been shifted to the PGIMS for a post-mortem examination, he said. 

Sonepat, July 26
Representatives of the Yuva Kisan Seva Samiti, Rathdhana, led by its president Suresh Kumar today met Deputy Commissioner Pankaj Aggarwal and submitted a memorandum demanding removal of the encroachments on the panchayati land of the village by some leading builders.

They also submitted that if action was not taken within 10 days, they would be forced to launch an agitation.

In the memorandum, they mentioned that the builders -- OP Jindal Global City, Express Builders, India Bulls and MAPSCO had encroached upon common paths and watercourses passing through the land purchased by these builders from the landowners.

However, the land under these paths and watercourses was the property of the gram panchayat and it was not purchased by the builders.

Fatehabad, July 26
Rajvir Singh, District Food and Supplies Controller, has recommended action against local LPG agency Balaji Enterprises. The DFSC, who submitted his inquiry report to DC Ashok Meena, said a team of the Food and Supplies Department found 41 cylinders of domestic LPG supply and 14 cylinders of commercial supply short as per their own record books.

Earlier in the day, Meena had directed the DFSC to hold an inquiry after the police last evening arrested two persons carrying 28 LPG cylinders.

The police had stopped a Tata Ace vehicle near the Ratia octroi post in the town and recovered 10 domestic, 10 commercial and eight empty cylinders. A case was registered under the Essential Commodities Act.

The DC received complaints that the police as well as the Food and Supplies Department were trying to save the agency.

The DFSC, however, maintained that his department had checked the stocks of the agency immediately after the arrests yesterday, and found the stocks in order. However, the stocks did not match with the registers when the authorities made a surprise check today.